Early Neutral Evaluation from a Financial Expert: Getting an Expert Assessment Before You Litigate
Early involvement of a neutral financial expert will help parties resolve many financial issues before taking them to litigation. Reducing the number of issues to be argued in court will help attorneys concentrate on the legal issues at hand, reduce attorney fees, move cases along quicker and reduce the burden on our family courts. Proceedings with an expert neutral evaluator will be considered confidential. We encourage direct communication between the adversarial parties about possible claims and supporting evidence. Open and direct communication is particularly important in situations where the parties are far apart in their views.
Topics appropriate for Expert Neutral Evaluation might include;
- Counsel and the parties need clarity as to the value of an issue in the case;
- The case involves technical or specialized financial subject matter and it is important to have an expert neutral with specific knowledge and experience in that subject matter;
- The parties wish to communicate with each other about specific issues in their case but are not ready to discuss global settlement.
In these instances, an evaluation of the dispute that seeks to determine best and worst case alternatives can point the way to a negotiated agreement. Many disputes in the family law arena boil down to a decision making process that become adversarial when the parties’ interests are no longer aligned. Helping parties and their counsel realize they have a decision making problem rather than a dispute will reduce the number of issues that come before judges, encourage cases to move more quickly as settlement is reached outside of a court room instead of waiting for the court calendar, reduce the burden on our family courts, provide better understanding of difficult and often mis-understood financial issues for the legal community and create a more informed decision making process for parties.
Parties engaging in the Expert Neutral Evaluation Process receive access to our Neutral Financial Experts. Our experts have specific training and experience in financial matters such as:
- Asset and Debt Discovery,
- Marital Standard of Living,
- Income Available for Support,
- Asset and Debt Division,
- Deferred Compensation Plans,
- QDRO Drafting,
- Present Value Calculations,
- Stock Options,
- Time Rule Formulas,
- Support Guidelines,
- Behavioral Finance;
- Community Versus Separate Property Apportionment;
- Forensic Accounting;
- Complicated Tax Issues;
- Mortgage and other Debt Issues;
- Structure of complicated real estate transactions such as 1031 exchanges;
- Fiduciary Duty;
- Imputed Investment Income;
Participation in an Early Expert Neutral Evaluation process is voluntary. The opinion rendered by your expert is non-binding. Being a voluntary and non-binding process requires participants to engage in the process with settlement in mind in order to reach satisfactory conclusions.
Once the decision is made to engage the services of our Expert Neutrals, the evaluator will work with parties and their attorney to arrange a schedule for exchanging initial written statements describing the substance of the issue, the parties’ views of the issue and critical details including evidence supporting those views.
The evaluator will meet with each party independently to review their written statements and the party and counsel may present their views verbally or through other media. This meeting can be done jointly but formal examination and cross examination of witnesses is not permitted.
A written evaluation is rendered on the agreed upon schedule after the evaluation concludes. The parties can seek additional clarification of the evaluation in writing from the evaluator. If all parties stipulate, they may proceed to discussions of settlement or utilize the evaluator as their mediator.
The evaluation; including views expressed, statements and other documents lodged and proposals made are confidential and will not be shared in an arbitral, judicial or other proceeding.
This article was created by Justin Reckers, CFP®, CDFA™, AIF®
Justin is a Managing Director of Pacific Divorce Management; a San Diego based firm specializing in the financial aspects that arise for couples going through a divorce. Justin has developed a passion for guiding people through what can be the most emotionally and financially devastating period in their life. He provides education and support during difficult decision making processes in order to facilitate rational and informed conclusions for clients. Justin also serves as a Financial Planner for Pacific Wealth Management, LLC, a San Diego-based investment management, consulting, and financial planning company where he specializes in comprehensive financial planning. His practice includes a comprehensive post divorce financial planning program for clients dedicated to preparing for financial independence and long term success during the post divorce transition. This program was developed with his Family Law experience in mind having seen the negative effects of lack of follow through.
For more information on Justin Reckers or to get in contact with him, go to his homepage: www.pacdivorce.com
| Advertisement: | ||
|---|---|---|
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
 |
